Mariah Carey performs at Madison Square Garden on December 31, 2009 in New York City.

Cindy Crawford, Feb. 14 (Courtesy of Instagram)

Want to know all about Jennifer Hudson’s Beyonce beauty obsession, Adam Lambert’s bronzer addiction and how Clay Aiken loved his makeup so much he slept in it?

Ever wonder how American Idol contestants go from drab to fab? It’s all thanks to makeup artist Mezhgan Hussainy . “I get to see them from the auditions on day one. I get an idea of what they’re really like and what we can do to make them really feel their best,” she says of the transformation process.

American Idol contestants are basically on their beauty own until they get to the top 24. At that point, Mezhgan, along with four assistants, work with the contestants on an as needed basis. It’s not until they reach the top 12 that Mezhgan and her glam squad give their full makeovers. “I try to get to know them and their personalities. I don’t like changing them, I like polishing them and coming up with a look they’re happy with,” Mezhgan says.

Mezhgan recently launched her own line of cosmetics, Me by {Me}zhgan which she developed right on the American Idol set. “When I was working on the line with my chemist I would want to see how it read on camera and how long it lasted. That’s how I worked it out,” she says. “Kara Dioguardi is a big fan of it. She loves the way the foundation goes on her.” The line, which is available on her website, will help benefit Mezhgan’s FARAWAY foundation to help Afghani women and children. “This has been my passion because I am from Afghanistan. When I see what’s going on it breaks my heart. I could be one of those women. Hopefully we can eventually open up a hospital and a school.”

Mezhgan cherishes her time on the American Idol set. “Working with the contestants is so rewarding. I’m the first professional makeup artist they’ve worked with. I will never forget them and they will never forget me,” she says. Here, Mezhgan’s most unforgettable American Idol transformations!

Fantasia Barrino

It looked like she was shaving her eyebrows

“When Fantasia started the show she had one look and really didn’t know how to put herself together. Then at the end she was glamorous and beautiful. The first thing that I noticed with her was that she had this almost chocolate brown, black lip liner that she would outline her lips with and use the lightest lip gloss like a beige. You could see it a mile away. It was awful. She has these amazing beautiful full lips, and she was not making them look their best.
It also looked like she was shaving her eyebrows from where her arch starts. When she made it to top 24, I told her ‘do not touch your eyebrows anymore! Leave them alone and leave them to me.’ And she listened to me and at the end she has beautiful eyebrows and her lips look beautiful. She just got rid of her bad habits,” Mezhgan says.

Clay Aiken

He didn’t like his freckles

“Clay didn’t have any bad habits – he just didn’t have any habits! He didn’t do anything. I love him to death. He didn’t like his freckles. We balanced them out by warming up his skin tone. We shaped up his eyebrows a little bit, I didn’t want to over pluck. With men, you want to make sure that its done in such a way that it doesn’t look like anything was done. His were just really thick.
We tinted his lashes and eyebrows because they’re super, super light. He just looked amazing and handsome. Sometimes he would sleep in his makeup. I would tell him he cant do that and he would say “but I love the way I look.” He went from geek to chic!” she says.

Jennifer Hudson

She asked to make her look like Beyonce

“The first time she sat in my chair she said, ‘make me look like Beyonce!’ The irony of the whole thing. That’s all she talked about. She was obsessed with Beyonce. She used to say, ‘I’m a mess, I don’t know what to do.’ The first time I put lashes on her she was freaking out because she said they felt like spiders. Then after that she was obsessed with them.
The main thing was teaching her that foundation is extremely important. If you don’t get the right shade and texture for your skin, nothing else will go on right. For her, if you get the right foundation and a little bronzer, blush and lip gloss she’s good to go,” Mezhgan says.

Adam Lambert

He wore too much bronzer

“It was so great having this man who was glamorous. He loved the makeup and rocking it out. He’s so creative and he had such a great eye for it. There were times that we’d go forget about just the guyliner, we’re going full on eyeshadow.
His mistake before is that he would just over bronze. His foundation shade was much darker. Usually with the top 24 we help them but we don’t completely do them. We’ll just do a once over. But with him his bronzer was so much that we just started fresh. He was so used to stage makeup. With Idol its completely different, its high definition. On a show like this, they zoom in and its high definition. You’re not going to like how you look,” she says.

Carrie Underwood

She never really wore makeup before

“She was the all American beauty. She didn’t wear a lot of makeup but she was just very plain when it came to putting herself together. I mean she’s gorgeous, she doesn’t need a lot. But when you put makeup on her she just looked absolutely stunning. You got to see how beautiful she really is. It just gave her that confidence. She would just loved sitting there getting her makeup done. She’s a very groovy girl. But before Idol she never really wore makeup,” Mezhgan says. - Marta Topran